Affect, Architecture, and Practice builds on and contributes to work
in theories of affect that have risen within diverse disciplines,
including geography, cultural studies, and media studies, challenging
the nature of textual and representational-based research. Although
numerous studies have examined how affect emerges in architectural
spaces, little attention has been paid to the creative process of
architectural design and the role that affect plays in the many
contingencies and uncertainties that arise in the process.
The book traces the critical, philosophic, and architectural theories to
examine how affect, architecture, and practice are interlinked. Through
a series of conversations and reflections, it examines three key
contemporary architects, their practices and projects, all within a
single coherent theme. Reiser + Umemoto (RUR Architecture DPC), USA,
Kerstin Thompson Architects, Australia, and Shigeru Ban Architects,
Japan, are critically studied through the lens of different aspects of
practice, namely image-making, the design process, and the making of an
everyday object/material.
Through this investigation, author Akari Nakai Kidd demonstrates how
affect theory allows a critical interrogation of the in-betweens of
practice, its liminality and limits. It questions the stability of
objects, the smooth temporality of practice, and its often
under-conceptualised non-human dimensions. More significantly, the book
demonstrates architectural practice's contribution to the
reconceptualisation of theories of affect.
